Police, equipped with a photograph, are searching for an unidentified male who escaped custody on Monday after being arrested during a confrontation between officials of the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) and squatters in the Anna Catherina community on the West Demerara.
This according to Commander Colin West of the ‘D’ Division.
Two others who were arrested, Mr. Ramnarine Harrinarine and Mr. Rondell John, appeared at the Vreed-en-Hoop Magistrates Court yesterday and were placed on a bond until December 31, 2010.

On Monday morning, officials from CH&PA arrived at Anna Catherina South Scheme where the offenders, among several others, were squatting on state reserve.

They were accused of ‘threatening’ CH&PA officials while they attempted to carry out their duties.

While all three individuals were placed under arrest, the unidentified man escaped from the vehicle in which the police put him.

The squatters took issue with the CH&PA officials who were dismantling the shacks they had set up after they were affected by the high spring tide that overtopped sections of the sea defenses at Anna Catherina/Cornelia Ida Sea View and damaged their homes.

In an invited comment from the CH&PA official in charge of the dismantling process, Mr. David Lord, he said that the situation with the squatters will be monitored continuously.
Persons from the CH&PA visited the area yesterday and no one had returned, Lord said.
Lord, who is also Head of Investigation and Enforcement at the Ministry of Housing, said now that the reserve has been cleared, persons who return to squat will have their building materials taken away.

“We cleared the reserve and allowed the squatters to collect their materials the first time; but the next time a truck will take away the materials and after that they will be prosecuted,” he declared.